PROF chris harrison

I am currently Professor of Clinical Assessment at the School of Medicine, University of Central Lancashire.

My involvement with medical education began in 1999, when I was appointed as a part-time lecturer in the University of Manchester, UK, with responsibility for teaching students patient-centred communication. After gradually increasing my time commitment, I studied for a Masters in Medical Education at Cardiff University, graduating with distinction in 2008. While studying for my Masters, I developed an interest in assessment and was responsible for radically redesigning the OSCE in Manchester. In 2009 I was appointed as the Academic Lead for Assessment at Manchester Medical School.

In 2010 I moved to Keele University School of Medicine as Senior Lecturer in Medical Education with a remit to improve feedback. I led the introduction of paperless marking of OSCEs with the provision of verbal feedback via an iPad app. In 2013 I was appointed Director of Assessment. I led the redesign of the assessment programme for the medical school’s new curriculum, implemented from 2018.

I obtained a PhD in Medical Education at Maastricht University in 2017, which was supervised by Cees van der Vleuten, Lambert Schuwirth and Val Wass, and co-supervised by Karen  Könings. My thesis was entitled ‘Feedback in the context of high-stakes assessment: can summative be formative?’. It can be read online here.

I am an experienced external examiner. I have given workshops, symposia and keynote addresses nationally and internationally in the areas of assessment and feedback.

I studied medicine at the University of Manchester, UK, graduating in 1990. After training in general practice, I was awarded Membership (with distinction) of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1994. After eight years as a partner at Barlow Medical Centre in Didsbury, Manchester, I moved in 2004 to Brooklands Medical Practice, also in Manchester, where I remain as partner. I was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2006.

Harrison C. Can we redesign the MRCGP assessment to support lifelong learning?. Education for Primary Care. 2019 Jan 7:1-4.

Harrison C. Aiming for agency and authenticity in assessment. Perspectives on Medical Education. 2018 Dec 1;7(6):348-9.

Harrison CJ, Könings KD, Schuwirth LW, Wass V, van der Vleuten CP. Changing the culture of assessment: the dominance of the summative assessment paradigm. BMC Medical Education. 2017 Apr 28;17(1):73.

Harrison CJ. Feedback: the need for meaningful conversations (Commentary). Journal of Graduate Medical Education. 2017 Apr;9(2):171-2.

Harrison CJ, Könings KD, Dannefer EF, Schuwirth LW, Wass V, van der Vleuten CP. Factors influencing students’ receptivity to formative feedback emerging from different assessment cultures. Perspectives on Medical Education. 2016 Oct 1;5(5):276-84.

Harrison C, Wass V. The challenge of changing to an assessment for learning culture (Commentary). Medical Education 2016;50:704-6

Harrison CJ, Könings KD, Schuwirth L, Wass V, van der Vleuten C. Barriers to the uptake and use of feedback in the context of summative assessment. Advances in Health Sciences Education. 2015 Mar 1;20(1):229-45.

Wass, Val, and Chris Harrison. Empowering the learner to reflect: do we need another approach? (Commentary) Medical Education 2014; 48.12: 1146-1147.

Harrison CJ, Molyneux AJ, Blackwell S, Wass VJ. How we give personalised audio feedback after summative OSCEs. Medical Teacher. 2015 Apr 3;37(4):323-6.

Chris Harrison, Karen Könings, Adrian Molyneux, Lambert Schuwirth, Val Wass, Cees van der Vleuten (2013). Web-based feedback after summative assessment: how do students engage? Medical Education, 47, 734-744. 

Louise Wade, Chris Harrison, James Hollands, Karen Mattick, Chris Ricketts, Val Wass. (2012). Student perceptions of the progress test in two settings and the implications for test deployment. Advances in Health Sciences Education 17, 573-583.

If you would like personalised help in redesigning your assessment programme in medical education, please contact Prof Chris Harrison via the contact page.